An Invitation
by Saturdaychick
Summary: Erik and Lisette discuss the possibility of his introducing her to his friends.


**An Invitation**

It had been a couple of days since Erik had been accosted by Antoinette Giry on his way to run some errands. They had gone to a café, and Antoinette had bombarded him with questions. About the girl she'd heard rumors about. About Christine and her return to the Opera House, her break-up with Raoul… and her pining for her Angel of Music. For him.

Lisette had gone to the park, something she did on an almost daily basis, to stroll the gardens, enjoy the fresh air and, perhaps, pacify her inner wolf being before the next full moon and her imprisonment in her bedroom for the night. She knew it was best for her, best for Erik and best for those around them. She was so grateful to Erik for protecting her. He was her beating heart. It was as if they knew what the other was thinking.

Although she knew Erik loved her, they embraced and kissed and cuddled one another, he refused to move their relationship any further. He saw her to her bedroom door each night, but no matter how she tried to entice him, he remained a perfect gentleman towards her. He had explained that, although they had so much in common, he was much older than her and until she was at least a few years older, he was content to keep things as they were.

She paused to admire the early rose blooms before leaving the gardens and navigating her way home through the streets of Paris. She stopped at the patisserie to pick up some chocolate croissants for their breakfast.  
As she neared the Rue Scribe, she took from her pocket the key to the entrance that lead to Erik's, no, to _their_, home. As she unlocked the gate, she had the feeling someone was watching her. She glanced around, her senses as fine tuned as Erik's, and saw no one. She stepped away from the gate, clutching the bag of croissants and the key and peered across the street and as she did, she thought she saw a woman hurrying away, a shawl covering her hair. Even so… Lisette knew it was Christine.

Returning to the gate, she opened it, entered and relocked it carefully behind her. Christine. Was she a threat to her happiness with Erik? No. She didn't believe so, despite their history together. Sighing to herself, she made her way to the little boat she had left waiting and stepped inside, poling her way expertly across the lake to their home, where she gracefully leapt to the shore and tied it up, retrieving the package, and practically danced with delight all the way to the door at the thought of being reunited with her beloved.

Erik was seated at his desk in the music room. He looked up and smiled. How she lit up his home with her presence. _Their_ home. He stood and went to greet her. "Erik!" she cried, upon seeing him. "I brought us a treat for breakfast. Come, sit at the table. I will make coffee." The smell of the croissants tempting even Erik, who could go for days on very little if he was composing.

As they sat across from one another, cups of coffee and fresh croissants before them, Lisette spoke up, "Erik, the oddest thing happened when I was unlocking the Rue Scribe gate, I felt I was being watched, and I saw a woman hurrying away. It was Christine, I am sure of it."

Erik paused. Listening. Her words sending a chill over his heart. "Christine? You are sure?" He knew her instincts were almost always as certain as his own.

"Yes, I am sure. Why do you think she was following me?"

"I don't know, my dear. Perhaps she is curious who this woman is who has captured my heart."

"Perhaps. But we have met already. When she came to tell you she had returned to the Opera House. To her room. The one where you used to tutor her."

Erik stared at her blankly. Of course he remembered that day. He had escorted Christine back to her room after she had come to confess her love for him. She had kissed him… and, although he hated himself for this seeming betrayal of his dear Lisette, he had kissed her back.

"Yes. But do not worry, my dear. My heart is yours. Christine rejected me. That is something I will never forget or forgive. You have accepted me for who, and what I am. You love me with an intensity equal to the feelings I have for you. Never fear that I would be tempted by Mademoiselle Daae'. "

Lisette nodded, as she added cream and sugar to her coffee and sipped it. "I know that, Erik." She replied. I am not worried."

They were silent for a moment. Then Erik felt compelled to speak, "Lisette, I ran into Antoinette Giry the other day. She wishes to meet you. She extended an invitation to tea."  
"Will it just be Madame Giry, you and me?" Lisette asked.

"She and her daughter, Meg, and perhaps Nadir Khan, my oldest friend."

"And what of Christine? Will she be there as well?" Lisette looked at Erik quite directly.

"She may well be invited. She is Antoinette's ward and was raised as a sister to Meg."

"I see." Lisette mulled this information over. "When will this be, Erik?" she asked. She knew it was less than two weeks until their second full moon together, and although it seemed as if they had known each other always, only one moon had passed since she had moved in.

Understanding what she was asking indirectly, he replied, "I will go to her today. Perhaps in a day or two. Will that give you enough time to warm up to the idea?"

"I want very much to meet your friends, Erik. I, myself, have had very few friends in my nomadic existence. Not since I was a child and played with the village children. I would like them to accept me."

"Accept? My dear, they will love you. How could they not?"

"Christine will accept me. Accept us?"

"She has no choice. There is only us, now. I am a man whose heart is no longer his own. It is yours, now, my dear, and will be always."

Lisette stood and came round the table where she settled on his lap, threw her arms about his neck and kissed him. Then, smiling, she said, "As my heart is yours, now, and always."

Gently lifting Lisette in his arms and removing her from his lap, he stood and faced her, "I have a gift for you. I almost forgot." He retreated to his music room, she heard the sound of rummaging in his desk drawer, and he returned with a small velvet box tied with gold ribbon. "For me?" she asked, her amber eyes, wide, as she took the gift from his hand and untied the ribbon, and set it on the table. Then, opening the box she stared a moment. Her eyes still wide and questioning. "This looks very expensive, Erik," she said, finally.  
"Let me do the clasp for you, " he said, gently. And he took the tiny carved topaz wolf, lifted her hair away from her neck and fit the clasp together.

"I love this so much, Erik," she whispered as she fingered the tiny stone amulet . "This means more to me than you can ever know. Instead of living under the curse I was damned with, and moving from place to place in fear of my life, you have accepted it all without question. This honors my alternate being instead of condemning me for it. I will never take it off!" she beamed at him, her smile lighting the room around them, "Well… I will have to remove it once a month. But only then, " she laughed.

As Lisette cleared away the dishes and cups to wash them, Erik told her he would go to find Antoinette and secure a date for his introduction of her to his friends.

Two days later, Lisette lay back in the bath, deciding what to wear to that afternoon's meeting. "Erik" she called. He was still a bit bashful over Lisette's unconcern over her nudity. It seemed silly, she had said, when upon their first meeting she had transitioned from her wolf form to her human form and had sat there, quite naked and spoken with him. That image had been burned into his consciousness and unconsciousness, She was as beautiful as a butterfly. He opened the door and stepped in. "Can you wash my hair, please, Erik?" she asked. Something she requested every so often. "Of course." He rolled up his shirt sleeves and knelt beside the bath, reaching for the shampoo that sat on a small shelf. As he lathered her hair, she hummed to herself. Then she asked, "what should I wear today? I don't feel as if I should wear something of Christine's that I have altered to fit my size, not with her there" she was speaking to him, but more to herself. Erik understood.  
He had one more surprise. He smiled to himself.

As Lisette dried herself with the large towel and combed out her hair, Erik went to his room and retrieved a large box. The door to the bathing room was open. "I have one more gift for you, my dear."

Lisette wrapped the towel around her body and tucked it in. She followed him out. He led her to her bedroom, where a small smile played on her lips. On her bed was the box. "Open it, " he encouraged her as she stood staring at it. She reached for the lid and removed it, and there, nestled in scarlet tissue paper within it was a beautiful dress in a deep sapphire blue, with black lace and velvet lacing up the back. "I had it made to your… um, your specifications." He had a good eye for measurements.

"Erik, this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!" she exclaimed, lifting it from the box and twirling it around herself and her room, the towel falling away, and both she and Erik laughed.

Sometime later, Erik, dressed in his usual elegance of white shirt, vest, dress coat and pants and black lace up boots, took Lisette's arm. She looked radiant in her new dress with lavender boots and green stockings. She had asked his opinion about her under things, which he gave, although uncomfortably. She refused to wear a corset. Her figure was charming as it was and corseting it was repulsive to him, knowing many women's bodies were deformed by this practice.

He led Lisette through several passages behind the rooms of the Opera House and came out quite near the Giry's apartments. He knocked and the door was flung open by Meg, her eyes widened and then she laughed, "So, you are the mysterious woman who has captured our Erik's heart? Come in! We are all dying to meet you!" She reached for Lisette's hand and tugged her into the room, as she cast a look behind her at Erik, who was hanging their cloaks on the coat rack.

"Mama! "Meg called, and Antoinette Giry entered the living area from the kitchen, followed by a tall, Egyptian looking man. "This is Erik's lady friend. Lisette, right?"  
Lisette nodded. Erik entered the room and came to stand protectively beside her.

"Come in, my dear, " said Antoinette warmly. Nadir looked at Erik. Their gazes held a moment, then he too welcomed her affectionately. "I am Nadir, Erik's friend from long ago. I can see now why he has been keeping you to himself, " he said, charmingly, "such a jewel could be stolen. Well, perhaps not. I can see the feeling between you two is quite mutual."

Lisette smiled. She liked Erik's friends. She could sense dishonesty from those around her, and these people were quite genuine in making her feel welcome.

As Antoinette and Meg led Lisette to the sofas that had a small table set with tea things between them, Nadir cornered Erik. "So, my friend. She is lovely. You didn't have to kidnap this one and try and force her into marrying you" he said, jokingly. Erik glared at him. "No. I did not." He snapped.

Nadir laughed. "She is exquisite. Perhaps a bit young?"

"I have not touched her like that." Erik muttered. Nadir knew his friend would never do anything ungentlemanly when it came to women. But he couldn't help himself from teasing him.  
"I am not being serious, Erik. I can see she loves you equally. It is good that you wait for marriage or …whatever, until she is a bit older." Erik could feel himself blush, glad, for once, of the mask hiding part of his face.

"Is Christine here?" Erik asked Nadir, glancing to see Lisette, Meg and Antoinette all talking animatedly over tea and small creampuffs and other little cakes.

"Not yet. She is still in her room. But she will be here in time. Tell me, Erik, are you over your obsession with Christine? Lisette is very different. I hope that you are treating her fairly and not harboring any secret feelings for your former student."

"Nadir, is this a police interrogation? No. Listette means the world to me. She loved me from the first, without my mask. She accepted me at once. How could I ever again have feelings for someone who rejected me so completely? Who wanted someone with a perfect face, and a title, to boot. No, I feel nothing for Christine," he was saying when the door opened and the beautiful young soprano entered the room, closing the door behind her.  
"Angel?" she said, looking straight into his eyes. And he was almost lost, lost again, to the woman he had kidnapped, wreaked destruction for and killed for before she abandoned him. "Christine" he breathed.  
Nadir looked from one to the other then moved away to join the others and to leave the two, former tutor and student, among many other things, to one last private moment before they would have to break away and take their places with their friends. And, in Erik's case, with the woman he claimed was the love of his life. Surely, he could never be tempted away from Lisette? Christine had almost detroyed his life once. He would never put himself in a situation like that, again. Would he? Nadir glanced behind him at the two still standing in the entryway, and wondered.


End file.
